Kashmiris being silenced, lands being sold, says Mehbooba Mufti

SRINAGAR — Welcomed by hundreds of supporters at Dak Bungalow in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, the former Chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir and the president of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday addressed a party convention.

The PDP president while highlighting the contribution of the party said that the Party through its efforts made Kashmiris happy and helped them hope that there might be a better future. “Mufti Mohammed Sayed constructed roads that helped initiate a dialogue between India and Pakistan, started a bus service between India and Pakistan,” Mufti told her workers.

Mehbooba Mufti said that she did not accept any of the decisions of the BJP Government and that became the pretext for the Bharatiya Janata party to end the coalition Government in 2018. “I did not surrender to their orders including one of launching a crackdown against the Jamaat-e-Islami, a socio-political group,” she said.

Calling for initiation of the dialogue process, Mehbooba Mufti said that India and Pakistan should sit on the dialogue table with Kashmiris to ensure peace in the region and the entire South Asian region. “Kashmiris need to be a part of the dialogue process which has already begun between India and Pakistan,” she said while welcoming the ceasefire decision by India and Pakistan.

Ridiculing the Central Government, Mehbooba Mufti said, “Our Lands are being sold, our sand contracts are being given to non-locals, local business is being killed, our jobs are sold to outsiders and after all this, the Government has imposed silence on Kashmir, nobody is allowed to talk.”

Mehbooba Mufti, addressing the party convention, said that Article 370 was safe for Kashmiris, “They have snatched our identity from us and we will do our best to get it back, we will fight for preserving Kashmir and Kashmiris,” she said.

While asking the youth to give up guns, Mehbooba Mufti said Kashmiris should learn from the farmers, “They are resisting peacefully and the world is speaking of them, we should learn from them, gun is not a solution to any issue,” Mehbooba Mufti said.